Graduated from National High School in aeronautics and astronautics, Toulouse, 1983; hobbies: Sports, skill games, canyoning, skiing, flying activities such as boomerang, frisbee, kites; trained in Star City (Russia) on the Soyuz and Mir systems in 1991; was selected on 15 May 1992 as an ESA astronaut; was detached to the NASA Johnson Space Center/Houston in August 1992 to gain the Space Shuttle mission specialist qualifications; returned to European Astronaut Center, but still an active ESA astronaut.